Friday, 18 November 2016

THE ruling Zanu PF has entered into a secret arrangement with the
Grain Millers’ Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) over a corrupt
food-for-votes deal that will be rolled out ahead of the crucial 2018
general elections, it has surfaced.This comes after GMAZ, through its chairman and Zanu PF loyalist
Tafadzwa Musarara, secured a US$20 million grain matching facility with
the Department for International Development, an arm of the United
Kingdom government which administers aid, sources said.

As the Zanu PF government manoeuvres to use food to secure votes
during the next elections, the United Nations yesterday warned of a
looming humanitarian catastrophe if US$140 million is not made available
urgently to buy relief food for millions of hunger-stricken Zimbabweans
who have nothing to eat in this “peak hunger period of the lean
season”.Donors have raised only US$212 million of the US$352 million aid
requirement spelt out in the UN’s Humanitarian Response Plan, the UN
resident co-ordinator Bishow Parajuli said. Aid agencies have so far
managed to feed only 1,7 million out of 5,2 million people facing
starvation.Zimbabwe has been facing severe food shortages since its violent and
chaotic land reform programme which started in 2000, destroying
agriculture and leaving the country facing serious food insecurity.Zanu PF has over the years been using humanitarian aid to grab votes.
Only recently, relief agencies working with government in developmental
programmes, including food assistance, threatened to suspend funding if
there is lack of transparency in the distribution of aid to vulnerable
groups.Politically-motivated conditionalities on humanitarian aid have
pushed charity interventions to serve partisan politics with little or
no regard for the consequences.Sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that Crown Agents — an
international development company that partners with governments, aid
agencies, non-governmental organisations and companies — is handling the
facility. Crown Agents is in nearly 100 countries around the world.“We work to minimise this impact and to enable stakeholders, at
regional, national or local level to build institutional capacity to
enable ongoing stability and financial autonomy,” it says on its
website.

“Crown Agents can call upon a long history of partnering with
donors and governments to provide swift humanitarian assistance when
disaster strikes and to reduce the risk and build resilience to
withstand future shocks.”The sources said the GMAZ’s US$20 million facility is expected to be
rolled out before the end of December this year. The millers’
association is supposed to import maize from Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine and
Tanzania which will later be distributed to Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces. Zanu PF will then get maize and mealie-meal for distribution to the
poor on condition that they vote for the party, those involved in the
deal indicated. The deal comes at a time Mugabe is under intense pressure from the
discontended electorate for failing to deliver on his 2013 promises,
including the main one to create 2,2 million jobs. Growing social unrest against a backdrop of economic implosion has
piled pressure on Mugabe, who is likely to face a coalition involving
his former vice-president Joice Mujuru and long-time bitter rival Morgan
Tsvangirai in the next polls.In a bid to shore up his prospects in the elections, Mugabe and his
party are already manoeuvring to use the usual dirty tricks to win by
fair means or foul, the sources said. Musarara, believed to be close to the donor community and has been
protecting some of the few remaining white farmers in the country, will
play a crucial role to make sure Mugabe wins the polls by doling out
food, it was further said. Sources said Mugabe has given a nod to the GMAZ deal and for Musarara
to source maize from Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine after Zambia barred
grain exports due to its own food vulnerabilities. Zimbabwe has been hard hit by a severe El Niño-induced drought,
leaving about five million people in desperate need of food aid. Sources said GMAZ has already acquired 99 wagons and some locomotives
which will be used to transport the maize to various provinces across
the country. Information gleaned from the sources showed that the Forbes Border
Post in Mutare will be used to facilitate the entry of maize via the
Beira port from Mexico, Brazil and Ukraine. Maize from Tanzania and a
few individual sellers in Zambia will come in through Chirundu Border
Post. Sources close to GMAZ also said the association is strongly backing
the government’s ongoing command agriculture programme and will buy
close to 800 000 tonnes of maize from command farmers countrywide.“GMAZ is now strongly behind Mugabe’s 2018 bid and will do everything
to ensure the ageing leader wins the elections,” one source said. “The
food-for-votes deal, together with manipulation of the system, will be
central to his election strategy in 2018.” zimbabwe independent